Nootropics
Coluracetam
A racetam research compound with cholinergic animal findings and a registered mood-disorder trial without posted results.
Preclinical findings; registered human study with no posted results
Also known as: MKC-231 · BCI-540
Practical use
Reviewed practical notes
- Separate registration from results
- Completed enrollment is not proof of a favorable outcome.
- Keep the animal model
- Cholinergic-injury experiments cannot substantiate healthy vision claims.
- Check aliases carefully
- Research names can identify one molecule without authenticating a marketed product.
Overview
Coluracetam is also known as MKC-231 and BCI-540. Its research includes high-affinity choline uptake, a process involved in supplying choline for acetylcholine production. A proposed cholinergic mechanism is not evidence of improved memory or visual perception in healthy people.
Risks and limitations
The reviewed animal experiments cannot establish human safety. The human registry record documents a trial design and enrollment, but does not provide posted results from which to assess clinical benefit or adverse-event rates.
How to read this
The BCI-540 trial enrolled people with major depressive disorder and anxiety. A completed registry status does not mean that a treatment worked, and does not validate claims about healthy cognition, color perception or sensory enhancement.
Research explained
Learning in rats with cholinergic injury
Who was studied
Rats with experimentally induced cholinergic dysfunction, tested in a water-maze task.
What was found
MKC-231 improved performance in the injury model and was associated with changes in choline uptake.
What it cannot establish
An induced rat injury and maze performance are not evidence of better cognition in healthy humans. Persistence of a laboratory effect does not establish clinical durability.
Read the original studyCholine-transporter mechanisms
Who was studied
Rat-derived experimental preparations and studies of the high-affinity choline transporter.
What was found
The work examined transporter-related changes that could help explain the observed choline-uptake effect.
What it cannot establish
A molecular mechanism does not establish the size, relevance or safety of a human benefit.
Read the original studyA registered trial is not a positive trial
NCT00621270 describes a six-week randomized placebo-controlled BCI-540 study with 115 actual participants. The checked registry record has no posted results. Its design can be described, but efficacy or safety findings must not be invented.
Supporting sourceAliases help prevent missing or mismatched evidence
PubChem links coluracetam, MKC-231 and BCI-540. That connection permits tracing the research names; it does not verify the identity or purity of an independently sold product.
Supporting sourceSources
Sources checked 2026-10-01.
General education; not a personal treatment plan.